Toronto, ON – Young Canadian singer/songwriters Theo Tams and Ali Slaight have come together to record a Christmas song for the holiday season. The duo collaborated with producer Greg Johnston to create a stellar contemporary arrangement of the classic Christmas carol, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” directing all of the net proceeds from the sales until March 31, 2010 to War Child Canada. The single was recorded this past October and mixed by Vic Florencia.

“This has always been a favourite Christmas song of mine, it holds such emotion and history, and I love it as a duet. The lyric ‘Pray for peace, people, everywhere’ really rings true. We just knew it was the perfect song to help support War Child for the holidays,” said Theo Tams on the song selection.

The two singers are enthusiastic supporters of War Child. Ali visited Uganda this summer with the organization and Theo recently partook in their Busking For Change event in Toronto.

“The holiday season is my favourite time of year, largely because it’s a kind, forgiving and charitable occasion; the War Child cause is year round,” commented Ali Slaight.  “I applaud the War Child team for their tireless efforts in bringing education and awareness to the world regarding the rights of children.  I’m also delighted to have had the chance to work with my friend Theo on what to me is a holiday classic.”

“Do You Hear What I Hear?” will be serviced to radio November 6 and available digitally November 10 where music is sold.

War Child Canada is an award-winning charity which provides opportunities and long term solutions for war-affected children, focusing on education, strengthening children’s rights, reducing poverty and fostering self reliance.  War Child Canada works in partnership with local people and organizations to build sustainable programming that empowers children and their communities in Afghanistan, Darfur (Sudan), Uganda, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Georgia.

For more information, please contact:

Theo Tams:

Samantha Taus

Sony Music Entertainment Canada

416-589-3047

samantha.taus@sonymusic.com

Ali Slaight:

Tyson A. Parker

Vice President,

National Media & Artist Relations
Vice President,

Corporate Communications

UNIVERSAL MUSIC CANADA

416-718-4065

tyson.parker@umusic.com

(TORONTO, ON) - The first single from War Child’s tenth anniversary album – War Child: 10 – will be released on October 9th, 2009 through Universal Music Canada (UMC). The track, Let It Rain, is a unique collaboration between Sierra Leone born/Canadian based singer, Sy’rai and Artists United for Children and Youth Development (A.U.C.A.Y.D.), War Child partners and young musicians from his original home of Freetown.

In early 2000, Sy’rai fled Sierra Leone with his siblings to avoid the atrocities of a civil war that was notorious for recruiting child soldiers and displacing over a third of the country’s population. He settled in Victoria, B.C, became a Canadian citizen, and eventually embarked on a music career.
 
In summer 2009, Sy’rai was finally able to return to his home country on a War Child field mission. Not only was he able to visit his father’s grave (his father passed away in 2002), he also contributed, along with his record company Street Quality Records, to building a youth-based War Child project with Artists United for Children and Youth Development (A.U.C.A.Y.D.). This group of young people use music, drama and dance to reach thousands of youth in Sierra Leone who have experienced the devastation of violence and war.  
 
“Let It Rain” was inspired by and recorded during this visit. A song about recovery and rebuilding after devastation, the song was written by Sy’rai, Rupert Gayle, Derek Brin and Nathan Beswick and features various members of A.U.C.A.Y.D., including the head of the group, Luxonjay. The video was shot in Freetown and shows the beauty of a recovering country and its people.

Sy’rai said, “I am really grateful for what War Child Canada has done and is continuing to do for the people of Sierra Leone and all around the world.  I’m honoured to be working with these amazing people.”

War Child: 10 marks the 10th anniversary of the charity’s founding in Canada. The album, which will be released by Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, will feature a selection of some of the extraordinary music donated to the cause over the years, as well as exclusive new recordings. It includes music from some of the world’s biggest artists, including Coldplay, Radiohead and a brand new recording from Wolfmother.

For more information, please contact:

Tyson A. Parker
Vice President, National Media & Artist Relations
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Universal Music Canada
tyson.parker@umusic.com
Office Direct:  (+001) 416 718 4065

(TORONTO, ON) July 10, 2009 — Beginning July 18 in St. John’s Newfoundland, 21-year-old singer-songwriter Liam Titcomb will travel coast to coast visiting 50 cities and towns as he busks across the country to raise money for War Child Canada.  War Child Canada is an award-winning charity that provides humanitarian assistance to war-affected children in some of the most devastated regions in the world.

“I’ve been involved with War Child since 2003 and it’s a cause I believe in passionately.  After taking part last fall in Busking for Change and seeing the generosity of people in Toronto I thought why not take this concept right across the country.  War Child believes that everyone can make a difference, so I made the decision that this is how I could make an impact,” said Liam.  “And people coast to coast are joining in to help plan and assist with events.”

“Liam has been a fantastic supporter of War Child for many years, having previously contributed to the Peace Songs album,” said Dr. Samantha Nutt, Founder and Executive Director of War Child Canada.  “We’re really excited that he has picked up the Busking For Change concept and taken it to the next level. I hope that everyone will show their support for Liam as he travels across the country, raising much-needed funds for War Child Canada.”

The two-month fundraising event wraps up in Victoria, BC in mid September and will include scheduled free concerts and spontaneous street corner busking.  Local musicians will also join Liam in many of the locations throughout the tour to lend their support for the charity.  Documented through social media networks Facebook, MySpace and Twitter with daily blogs, pictures and videos, people will be able to follow Liam in his travels across the country.

To learn more about the tour and for a complete list of tour dates visit: www.liamtitcomb.com/warchild.

To make a donation, please visit: www.warchild.ca/liamtitcomb.

For media inquiries about the tour please contact:

For media inquiries about the tour please contact:

Fiona Hack
(416) 971-7474 (office)  (647) 994-4426 (cell)
fiona@warchild.ca

TORONTO, March 12 - War Child’s new benefit album, Heroes, has debuted at # 8 on Nielsen SoundScan’s Top 100 Selling Albums in Canada this week, making it War Child’s biggest debut in the 10 year history of the charity. The album has also debuted at #3 on the Digital Album Chart.

War Child Presents Heroes is the third album the charity has released. Previous compilations have included contributions from Paul McCartney, Radiohead, City and Colour and Our Lady Peace amongst others. This time around, War Child asked some of the biggest legends in music history to select a classic track from their own songwriting canon and nominate an artist from the next generation to create a modern reworking of that song.
The result is an album of 16 exclusive cover versions, with all proceeds from sales of the album going to support the charity.

“Heroes is dedicated to the support of the real heroes – children who live with the brutal effects of war,” said
War Child CEO, Lisa Zbitnew. “We are humbled by the amount of support this record has received, starting with the artists themselves. Without the backing of our retail and media partners, the success of this album would not have broken through like it has.”

The album has garnered a stunning reaction in the press, including a four star review in Rolling Stone Magazine. Heroes has been featured in nearly every major newspaper and music publication in North America and this level of interest was equally evident online.

“Social media has played an important role with this release,” said James Topham, War Child’s Marketing Director. “For example, we are running what may be the first ever album campaign on the microblogging site, Twitter. Overall we’ve seen a 55% increase in our immediate network, a spike in donations and hundreds of blog and Twitter posts about the Heroes album and the charity.”

For more information about the Heroes album, please visit www.warchildheroes.com

War Child is an award-winning charity that provides opportunities and long term solutions for war-affected children, focusing on education, strengthening children’s rights, reducing poverty and fostering self-reliance. War Child works in partnership with local people and organizations to build sustainable programming that empowers children and their communities.  War Child Canada currently provides active support to communities in Afghanistan, Sudan (Darfur), Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Georgia. Working closely with the music industry, War Child provides awareness, support and action for children’s rights everywhere.  www.warchild.ca

For further information, please contact:
Fiona Hack
War Child Canada
(416) 971-7474       1-866-WAR-CHILD (927-2445)
fiona@warchild.ca

For Quebec press enquiries, please contact:
Junior Bombardier
Musicor
Bureau (514) 849-6206 x 25310   Blackberry (514) 941-3794
junior.bombardier@musicor.quebecor.com

Tweet | Donate | Follow to Win

With the upcoming release of Heroes benefit CD, War Child is looking for Twitter Heroes to help spread the word about children in war-affected countries. An estimated 300,000 children globally have been forced or drafted into armed groups. (Heroes is available Mar 3rd in Canada and Feb 24th for US audiences)

What Does War Child Do?

War Child aims at raising awareness, understanding and concern for the plight of children forced to endure unimaginable acts of violence and torture. In regions where child soldiers are often placed on the front lines of combat, being used as human shields, messengers and spies, War Child provides programming aimed at preventing children from being recruited in the first place, and assistance in the difficult process of reintegration once they leave the armed groups.

What Twitter Heroes (YOU!) Can Do?

1. Tweet: Let your network know about War Child, Heroes and this site (#BeAHero)

2. Donate: Use the Heroes ChipIn Jar (the red widget on the right sidebar) to support War Child programs

3. Follow to Win: Follow @TopsAtWarChild to be entered to win Heroes prizes between Feb 23rd and March 6th. At least one draw per day!* Followers new and old are eligible!

* Draws take place Monday through Friday

Check out our FAQs!

1. What is a Twitter Hero?

A Twitter Hero is any Twitter user who Tweets, Donates, or Follows to Win:

Tweet: Let your network know about War Child, Heroes benefit CD and this site (#BeAHero)

Donate: Use the Heroes Chip-In jar to support War Child programs

Follow to Win: Follow @TopsAtWarChild to be entered to win Heroes prizes between Feb 23rd and March 6th. At least one draw per day!* Followers new and old are eligible!

2. What Prizes can I win?

Over the next 2 weeks, War Child will be making multiple draws for everyone that follows @TopsAtWarChild (both new and old followers are eligible). Draws will be made randomly throughout the day. Winners will be notified through an @ reply. Pictures of prizes induced below.

• Feb 23-27: Heroes Benefit CD (two (2) draws per day)
• Mar 2-6: Heroes Limited Edition LP Box Set. This collectors set includes 2 versions (original artists and nominated artist) of the Heroes tracks (one (1) draw per day)

3. How are the winners chosen?

We plan to use a very scientific process, whereby @TopsAtWarChild will ask a colleague at War Child Canada to pick 2  numbers. The first number will correspond to one of the pages of  his Follower List and and the second will correspond to a follower on that page (top of the page begins at 1 and counts up from there). Winners will be notified through an @ reply.

4. Who is @TopsAtWarChild?

@TopsAtWarChild is James Topham. He’s responsible for North American communications at War Child, based out of Toronto. Before moving to Canada, James worked at War Child in London, England, doing much the same job but with a little more irony.

Before becoming charitable, James ran Brian Eno’s management company, working on projects including a David Bowie album, a fashion show, a computer program for generating music, an aborted magazine and a 3’ x3’ representation of the dance floor from Saturday Night Fever.

He once accidentally put the phone down on Bono. Bono was very gracious about it.

5. What is the Heroes benefit CD and which artists are included?

Simply, the greatest living music legends have chosen the best artists of the moment to cover one of their songs. Bob Dylan chose Beck, Joy Division chose Hot Chip, The Clash chose Lilly Allen, and so many more. To see a full track listing click here. All proceeds go to War Child programs.

6. Hold on a sec, what is Twitter?!?

Not on Twitter yet? Don’t worry, there’s an easy fix! Go to www.Twitter.com and sign up for an account. Then follow @TopsAtWarChild to become a Twitter Hero and be eligible for the Twitter Hero prizes.

For more information on what Twitter is, watch Twitter in Plain English or check out Wikipedia’s Twitter definition.

The Kooks are a British guitar band, formed in Brighton in 2004. They took their name from the David Bowie song. They have released two studio albums; their 2006 debut Inside/Out peaked at number two on the UK album chart, and their 2008 follow up Konk reached number one.

The Heroes track list in full:

1.    Beck (Bob Dylan - “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat”)
2.    The Kooks (The Kinks – “Victoria”)
3.    The Hold Steady (Bruce Springsteen – “Atlantic City”)
4.    Hot Chip (Joy Division – “Transmission”)
5.    Lily Allen feat. Mick Jones (The Clash – “Straight To Hell”)
6.    Yeah Yeah Yeahs (The Ramones – “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker”)
7.    Franz Ferdinand (Blondie – “Call Me”)
8.    Duffy (Paul McCartney – “Live And Let Die”)
9.    Estelle (Stevie Wonder – “Superstition”)
10.  Rufus Wainwright (Brian Wilson –“ Wonderful & Song For Children”)
11.  Scissor Sisters (Roxy Music – “Do The Strand”)
12.  Peaches (Iggy Pop – “Search And Destroy”)
13.  Adam Cohen (Leonard Cohen – “Take This Waltz”)
14.  Elbow (U2 – “Running To Stand Still”)
15.  The Like (Elvis Costello – “You Belong To Me”)
16.  TV On The Radio (David Bowie – “Heroes”)

TORONTO, February 17th - The Kooks’ cover of The Kinks’ ‘Victoria’ will be the first single taken from the forthcoming Heroes benefit album for War Child. The single will be distributed to radio stations across Canada on February 17th in anticipation of the album’s release in Canada on March 3rd, 2009.

The original Kinks’ song was the opening track on the band’s 1969 album, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). In a single song, Ray Davies seemed to distil the excitement of the period.

Ray Davies: “’Victoria’ was an important track to me and The Kinks, because I needed something with a bit of pomp but that yet still rocked. Simple yet with a big idea. Something to evoke another era and yet seemed modern. Innocence before the corruption. And now, The Kooks seem to have all those elements I looked for in ‘Victoria.’ Anything that can benefit such a worthy cause is worth while.”

The Kooks version of the song was recorded at Konk Studios, owned by Ray Davies.

Heroes is a peerless collection of some of the best songs ever written and performed, covered by today’s greatest artists and bands, working with a concept that mirrors one of the intrinsic aims of War Child’s efforts in war zones across the world – to place faith in the next generation.  Each legend was asked to pick one of their classic songs and nominate a new artist or band to reinterpret it. The result is a collection of exclusive and inspired collaborations.

Proceeds from sales of the album will go to War Child, an award winning organization that works with children whose lives have been devastated by war. By concentrating on protecting children’s rights, providing an education and helping them  develop life skills for the future, War Child empowers children to retake control of their lives. War Child works in some of the world’s worst conflict areas including Afghanistan, Darfur, the Congo and northern Uganda.

For more information, please visit warchildheroes.com

By Dr Samantha Nutt

War Child founder, Dr Samantha Nutt

When President Barack Obama meets Prime Minister Stephen Harper on February 19^th , he may be surprised to learn that Canada has changed. Sure, we still have the iconic loonie on our currency, the maple leaf on our flag, and the snowmen in our front yards, but these things belie our newly hardened, cynical interior.  As Obama inspires millions with his promise of possibility, respect and unity (“yes we can!”), north of the 49^th parallel has wrested itself into an identity crisis (“no we can’t!”).

No, we can’t deploy peacekeepers to Darfur, the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, even if we ‘invented’ the concept.  No, we can’t reach the United Nations target of 0.7% of our gross national wealth as a contribution to overseas development assistance – we can’t even get half way there – even though that target was set by lauded former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson forty years ago.  And no, we can’t repatriate Omar Khadr, even though we helped draft and were among the first to ratify the Optional Protocol on child soldiers. 

In fact, the ink was barely dry on Canada’s signature when Omar Khadr was arrested at the age of fifteen and sent to Guantanamo Bay as an “enemy combatant” (Geneva Convention notwithstanding).  So no, we can’t – nor can Canadians continue, in any real way, to lay claim to reason, compassion or diplomacy around the global power tables because we’ve simply lost that moral legitimacy.  Which all leads to the question that the newly inaugurated President might dare to beg when he steps off Air Force One in two weeks time, namely, “where am I?”.

The years of George W. Bush weren’t just challenging for Americans – they were challenging for Canadians as well.  We weren’t entirely sure how to behave as the years progressed.  At first, we agreed with our friend and closest ally to the south (on Afghanistan).  Then, we disagreed (on Iraq).  And then, we agreed to disagree (on nuclear nonproliferation, soft wood lumber, Maher Arar, etc).  But now, Canada is knee deep in a moral quandary that had greater deniability under George W.  In short, the new kid is making us look bad. 

President Obama wants to close Guantanamo Bay.  That, in and of itself, isn’t really an issue for Canadians.  What is at issue is that one of our citizens, Omar Khadr, has been incarcerated there for the past six years and he will need to go somewhere. The question is, where?  Should he be transferred to a U.S. federal prison?  Should the military tribunal be allowed to proceed? Or should Khadr face his accusers in a U.S. court of law?  He is, after all, accused of murdering U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Speer during a fierce gun battle in Afghanistan.  Or should our government ask for Khadr to be sent home, so that we can sort this mess out ourselves?  Canadians are deeply divided on this issue—

Khadr’s plight reads like one of those double negative, multiple choice questions first year Biology profs are so fond of: there is a right answer, but damned if we can find it. 

On January 26^th, 2009, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that the Canadian government will wait for the U.S to decide what to do with the charges against Khadr.  He went on to say that “my understanding of international law is, to be a child soldier, you have to be in an army” - creative  spin, indeed. 

The closest thing to a universally accepted definition of what constitutes a child soldier is outlined in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and even that doesn’t come with a list of criteria as to what constitutes a child soldier. Instead it calls on State Parties to ensure that children less than eighteen years of age under their jurisdiction do not become child soldiers.  It also insists that any child exploited as a soldier in war be provided with “the appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and their social reintegration” (Article 6.3). Not the kind of service GITMO is renowned for.

Both Canada and the US signed and ratified the Optional Protocol.  This means, like it or not, “guilty” or not, both countries must recognize that – as a fifteen year old at the time of his arrest – the Optional Protocol applies in Khadr’s case. 

Second, Prime Minister Harper’s claim that Khadr wasn’t a child soldier at the time of his arrest because “you have to be in an army” is categorically false.  Article 4.1 of the Optional Protocol confirms that it is illegal for “armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State” to “recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of eighteen years”.  The vast majority of child soldiers worldwide are used by non-state actors (rebel militias, irregular forces, etc) who look nothing like an “army”.  So, whether Khadr was wearing an identifiable military uniform or not, and whether he was officially part of any recognizable army, are irrelevant in this case: he was a fifteen year old actively used in armed combat.

So where does this leave us?  Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen and a child soldier whose rights have been summarily denied, despite international law.  When our respective Heads of State meet in two weeks’ time, it is incumbent upon Prime Minister Harper to make the decision much easier for the newly minted American President: give Canada back its problem child.  And if the Canadian government isn’t sure how to sort through a responsible judicial and rehabilitative process for this troubled young man, there are many Canadian aid agencies with expertise in this area who’ve worked with child soldiers all around the world and who’d be more than happy to help sort it out.  Otherwise, President Obama would be right to ask, as a follow-up to his first question, “Oh, Canada…what do you stand on guard for again?” 

Dr Samantha Nutt is a medical doctor, and the Founder and Executive Director of War Child Canada